Thursday, September 30, 2010

An older lady whose property has been vandalized by some "youths" finally had enough. They've set her garbage can on fire, her BBQ, and broken her windows before. She was coming home from the grocery store, and all her windows were broken. 2 boys were running away from the scene.

So later, they come back, start throwing bricks at her and shouting obscenities. What does the old lady do? BAM! pulls out a gun & shoots one (good shooting!).

The thugs were 12 and 13. The 12 year old was treated then they were both charged with aggravated assault. The old lady is NOT going to be charged - and she should not be anyway. Police had not responded to her other calls, and so, what do you do when police do nothing? You do what you have to.

Up in Houston, evidently porn killed the guy - "Police are investigating the death of a man whose body was found locked in a video booth at an adult book store on U.S. 59 in northeast Houston the day after he was seen entering the business."

Heh. I won't make comments about *that* one!

Here's stupid - a parking meter maid tickets a hearse - where? Why, because it was parked in the 'no parking' zone right outside a banquet hall. There was supposed to be the man's daughter's 25th anniversary party there, but with the death in the family, that was called off, and they had the funeral service there instead. The idiot parking maid was told quite a few times it was a funeral, including the hearse driver, a retired sheriff's deputy. Good thing they got it cleared up! Did I mention it was Sunday, and the streets were deserted, so it's not like they parked there because the parking spots were filled.

Back to a weapon keeping the criminals at bay: An 83 year old man makes would-be robber flee. He has a concealed carry permit for his .25, and he *will* not let someone take advantage of him, merely because he has a cane and a limp. A transient (since when are they transients? I call them BUMS) tried to rob him, knocked him down & tried to take his wallet. So the old man pulls out his gun and tells the BUM to get away from him. The dood ran away, but was later caught and charged with attempted strong-arm robbery.

I seem to be getting less & less tolerant of crime, criminals, etc. And the death penalty. What about having ONE (1) appeal, and then BAM, they're done for. None of this sitting around for 30 years like some murderer did. Why are we keeping them around? Let's clear out death row within 30 days, and then new ones can take their place - I think that would send a strong message to not step over that line. Also the death penalty for more cases - murder? 1 appeal, then off to the gurney. Or the gas chamber, whatever your state uses. Child molesters - death penalty. You get the idea. And what is prison for? nowadays it's used as "teaching them a new way" however, the idea of prison is *punishment*. Cruel and unusual? no.

Of course the ACLU is pushing this one. Sorry, you go into the military you cannot do as you like. They own you. You don't have the rights you did as a civlian. And this is against the UCMJ. You can't just pick and choose which laws out of it you will follow. This judge way overstepped his bounds. Judge Ronald Leighton of Tacoma, Washington, made his ruling Friday.This guy is another Bush appointee. Think he was truly a conservative still? The judged ruled that it violated her due process rights and 5th amendment rights. This woman joined the Air Force in 97 and when her relationship with a woman was discovered, she was suspended in 04. This idiot judge ignores military law & says "there was no good reason for her dismissal". BAH. there are rules against this in the military. I guess next some bunko judge is going to rule for an officer fraternizing with an enlisted person.

They might be "exemplary officers/enlisted" however you cannot do whatever the heck you want and remain in the military. Hmm...5th amendment rights.. perhaps someone on a urinalysis could claim their 5th amendment rights were violated as their urine testified against themselves (i.e. they're druggies). BAH!

Speaking of druggies, there was news from Fox 2 up in Detroit about a gaggle of GM employees boozing it up and smoking pot during their lunch break:

We are having an enchilada dinner fundraiser for AWANA tomorrow at church so I have to make 2 or 3 pots of beans today - and tomorrow is Round-up Sunday...where we 'round up' those who haven't been to church in a while or those who show up faithfully - twice a year, Christmas and Easter.

Among the many other catchwords that shut down thinking are "the rich" and "the poor." When is somebody rich? When they have a lot of wealth. But, when politicians talk about taxing "the rich," they are not even talking about people's wealth, and what they are planning to tax are people's incomes, not their wealth.

If we stop and think, instead of going with the flow of catchwords, it is clear than income and wealth are different things. A billionaire can have zero income. Bill Gates lost $18 billion dollars in 2008 and Warren Buffett lost $25 billion. Their income might have been negative, for all I know. But, no matter how low their income was, they were not poor.

By the same token, people who have worked their way up, to the point where they have a substantial income in their later years, are not rich. In most cases, they never earned high incomes in their younger years and they will not be earning high incomes when they retire. A middle-aged or elderly couple making $125,000 each are not rich, even though politicians will tax away what they have earned at the end of decades of working their way up.

Similarly, most of the people who are called "the poor" are not poor. Their low incomes are as transient as the higher incomes of "the rich." Most of the people in the bottom 20 percent in income end up in the top half of the income distribution in later years. Far more of them reach the top 20 percent than remain in the bottom 20 percent over the years.

The grand fallacy in most discussions of income statistics is the assumption that the various income brackets represent enduring classes of people, rather than transients who start at the bottom in entry-level jobs and move up as they acquire more experience and skills.

How true this is! If you've never enjoyed one of Thomas Sowell's books before, trot on over to Amazon, and get crackin! Have a great Saturday!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

What is wrong with this quote? Can you figure it out? He did not 'accidentally' forget part of it, as it looks during that silence like he's sucking on a lemon. And we're supposed to believe that he's a Christian and not something else, like a scumbucket?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

It's been a while since I posted! Fun stuff has started up now that skool is in for the kiddies. We started AWANA again this year, and we actually might get more helpers for Sparks Club. We have a lady now that is doing our paperwork/bookwork for us (yay! usually I left it for the following Sunday between services and do it then); one of the teenagers is no longer in Youth, she is in the College & Career Sunday School, so she is helping us this year. For a couple years, it was only me and my oldest daughter...then one of the ladies that was helping with the older girls came to work with Sparks (k-2nd grade) and my youngest worked with us - we have another girl that is no longer in the Youth, and she helps too. The kids get hard to work with when there's 20 of them, 3 of you, and you have to try to teach the non-readers their Bible verses, plus listen to others say their verses to get the sections in their handbook completed.

New this year! I am NO LONGER PAYING FOR EVERYONE ELSES KIDS. Hah! It feels so good to type that. I've sent home a letter saying that buying the child their handbook (if they don't already have one that they did not complete from last year) AND their uniform vest, plus dues for Sparks Club is NOT optional. Took a few hours of working on it, with the help of two online friends that tempered my bluntness and stuff. That was last week. This past Wednesdau night, I sent home another letter, and had help again this time - THANK YOU Sean & Savage!

This week's letter is what we do during our time at Sparks (I keep using Sparks Club so they will GET IT THRU THEIR HEADS *parents*) that it is indeed a club, with dues, uniform and a handbook and not just church like on Sunday. Two of the children (brother and sister) did come with their dues, 2 others have dues, and most just look at me blankly. I did talk to a mother later that evening and found out her child was given money for dues.. but she thinks he spent it at the store being he didn't have it later for Club. She was not too happy about that.

I spent 15 minutes last night just trying to get the children to stop screaming and yelling at each other in the van - the older kids are the ones that are so ...dare I say it? Out of control. If this is how these kids act in skools, its no wonder that teachers are sick of it. I find the behavior reprehensible, and when some babymama gets cheesed off that I happened to yell SHUT UP after 15 minutes of yelling sit down, be quiet, stop hitting him, stop screaming at her... I tell ya, if I heard of my kids acting that way for an adult that is in charge of them for a bit, I'd be MAD. Not at the adult...the ones doing the bad behavior. Last night I got back up out of bed, because my brain was just going and going...I now have a letter to parents for each of the kids that ride the van. I can't play cop AND drive the van at the same time.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT VAN RULES

1. Keep your hands and feet to yourself. No hitting, kicking, etc.

2. Use an indoor voice. Do not yell and scream at each other.

3. No swearing or threatening each other.

4. No fighting.

Not following the above rules will result in your suspension for two weeks from riding the van on Wednesday night. Repeat offenses will be permanent suspension from the van on Wednesday night.

I know that a few will get mad about this (kids) when they get ejected from the van, or drop the other kids off at the church except them, turn the van around and bring them right back home. Plus it will be a pain for whoever has to drive the van to their apartment - as I have to get stuff ready for Sparks and don't have the time to mess around when the kids are not behaving.

Is this too much to ask - for people to pay for their own kids' stuff for Club, dues, and for their kids to behave on the van? It really isn't fair to the parents that pay for their kids when the others feel they don't have to - I notice the kids will play football, soccer, baseball, softball, tball... plus money for beer & smokes.. but not have it for this. *facepalm*

Anyway...back to your regularly scheduled program...

There is a pretty big hurricane in the Caribbean, Igor (pronounced eye-gor hah!).. was watching the news - they said it was over 1000 miles across, and tropical storm winds were as far out as 300 miles from the eye. Channel 13 weather said on the news last night that we may get some rain out of it. Makes me wonder how big across Ike was, when it filled the Gulf of Mexico. Check out the tropical stuff (and your local weather & radar) at Wunderground.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Today, in 2001, America was *really* made aware of the enemy. The first plane hit the WTC tower at 8:45 EST. I was dropping off my kids at that time at school at BCBCA, and slogging my way home in the station wagon, and promptly took a nap when I got home. I woke up and logged onto my desktop, and a friend said "turn on the news". 9:03 am. I woke up at 8:20 cst and logged on. I looked at the TV in astonishment "this is like a movie" "is this a movie being played out" "can this be real" "no way this is real". Yes, Virginia, there is a terrorist attack on the US and it just happened.

In in a few hours, in a nutshell - here is the timeline:

7:59 A.M. - American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 with 92 people on board, departs Boston's Logan International Airport bound for Los Angeles International Airport.

8:14 A.M. - United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767 with 65 people on board, departs from Boston's Logan International Airport bound for Los Angeles International Airport.

8:20 A.M. - American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 with 64 people on board, departs Washington Dulles International Airport bound for Los Angeles International Airport.

8:40 A.M. - The FAA notifies NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector of the suspected hijacking of American Airlines Flight 11.

8:42 A.M. - United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 with 44 people on board, departs from Newark International Airport bound for San Francisco International Airport.

8:43 A.M. - The FAA notifies NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector of the suspected hijacking of United Airlines Flight 175.

9:31 A.M. - President George W. Bush makes a statement from Emma Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida calling the crashes an "apparent terrorist attack."

This is only the capstone on the attacks that have been going on the past 1400 years since the inception of Islam. Call me "intolerant" call me "hateful" I will speak the truth. There is Dar al Islam, and Dar al Harb (house of war). WE are Dar al Harb. WE are the infidel spoken of in the Koran. We are lucky that many muslims today in the US are like the christians of today - LUKEWARM. In Revelation, we read:

Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

by the way, spue is vomit.

ok. Suffice that we are completely under attack, and war with (despite what our dhimmi-in-chief says) Islam.

As for the preacher down in Fla who is planning on burning the Koran. I'd lke to be there with a lighter & a bottle of charcoal lighter. I'll bring my smokey joe kettle, and start the charcoal with it. We cleaned out our bookshelves of algebra books, coming up with 10 redundant books. Off they were consigned to our burnpile. Math teachers did not rage, riot and kill people over it. Stephen King books were on there too, and some poetry books we had more than 1 copy of. I had quite a few fiction paperbacks to go on there.

Burning books? oh heaven forbid.. it was a way to get rid of them without trying to find a place to dump them off as being so many words on paper.

Muslims kill Christians, terrorize them, vandalize churches, tear up Bibles, use Bibles as toilet paper, yet you don't see groups of Christians rioting, burning down buildings, and killing people for ""the thought of touching a Bible".

And what would Jesus or Paul do with a koran? Jesus had no tolerance for false religion (driving out the moneychangers at the temple), or cursing the fig tree for not bearing fruit. Paul would speak against the koran. Can we do any less?

Speaking of WWJD about the koran, here is a good article by Tim Furnish. I agree. You may not agree with my stance on christianity vs islam, however, denying that islam is a totalitarian regime, is to stick your head in the sand like an ostrich. Jihad Watch, Robert Spencer's site, is a great place to get educated. There is Blogging the Quoran there, where they take the authoritative hadiths to elicidate what the Koran says, and the scholars have asserted over the years. Or just google blogging the quoran jihadwatch and see what comes up.

I get alot of *facepalm* from people I know...who feel this doesn't affect them. It does. And it will.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Well today is the Labor Day holiday and there is the 1st annual International Brewmasters Festival up at Moody Gardens in Galveston. Seems to be the only thing in town going on, besides Labor Day sales at stores. We were going to head to the beach today but it is rainy here.

I found a delicious recipe for sea scallops Saturday. The 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup white wine, I just poured in a medium splash of chardonnay. here is the page for Butter Fried Scallops. I didn't brown mine as dark as she had them, I was afraid of overcooking them. At the end, when it says turn off the heat & leave the pan set on the burner, I left it on for 3 minutes (timed it) and took it off. They were just right and really sweet. Wish I had bought more than a pound of scallops for that recipe! My husband is in training right now for a marathon (Wineglass Marathon up in Corning NY) so no bacon-wrapped until he's run it. My youngest has taken up running also.

We had our 22nd anniversary last week... hard to believe that we've been together 22 years! It doesn't seem like that long.. but again, then it seems like it's been forever that we've been together.

I was reading an account of the Bonus Army, at Acostia Flats. Don't know that bit of history? It was comprised of WW1 veterans and their families, who went to Washington DC during the depression to get now the money they had been promised in 1945. There is a button off to the right side about half-way down, that gives you a page that is an eyewitness account of that. Quite interesting.

On another note, a tropical storm has popped up in the Gulf - Hermine. So now I have that to look forward to! bleah!